Share this:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JULY 19: Liam Hendriks #16 of the Oakland Athletics delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning of the game on July 19, 2019 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Athletics defeated the Twins 5-3. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The heat index checked in at 111 degrees by first pitch Friday night. And, like the air itself, the A’s were feeling heavy following a grueling loss the night prior.

But Marcus Semien’s leadoff home run in the first inning lifted the air just a bit, setting the tone for a 5-3 A’s (56-42) win. Oakland now has a one-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the second wild-card spot. Here are three takeaways.

Liam Hendriks records a five out save

Hendriks’ fastball clocked in at 99.9 mph. After the win, his teammates checked to see if his fastball simmered as hot as the night.

“They checked it to make sure my head didn’t get too big,” Hendriks said.

Ego deflation following Hendriks’ five-out, three-strikeout save was in order and, yet, praise had to be heaped.

“The fact that Liam was DFA’d last year and now he’s arguably the best bullpen arm in the big leagues is a story itself,” startter Chris Bassitt said. “He showed his true character this year and how resilient he is. He’s stupid impressive right now, there’s not a hitter in the big league that wants to face him.”

Hendriks took over for Joakim Soria in the eighth inning with the tying run set to take the box not having pitched since July 14 against the Chicago White Sox.

His slider spliced the thick air for big swings and misses. His fastball, too. He tossed six straight strikes to end the eighth inning threat and treated the Twins to a clean 1-2-3 ninth. It was clear the humidity had impacted every pitchers’ offspeed stuff, but Hendriks was unfazed.

“I grew up in Australia,” he said. “This is nothing.”

His teammate went so far as to say that Hendriks is the best closer in the game — that may be a stretch with company such as Aroldis Chapman, Josh Hader and Will Smith having clocked in a few more years and opportunities, but there is no doubt that he’s currently one of the best closers in the game right now. With that, Hendriks extended his scoreless streak to 19.2 innings, striking out 33 batters with two walks over that span.

Khris Davis is riding a 21-game homerless streak, but he is still finding ways to produce. He knocked two run-scoring singles in a 2-for-4 night.

He was hitting the ball hard, too — his lineout in the fourth inning left the bat at 107 mph.

“He’s seeing it a lot better, he seems like he’s feeling better about it. He wants to contribute for his team,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve been holding down the fort for him for a while, but at some point he is going to break ou. Hopefully today was a good step in the right direction.”

He’s been taking the right steps for a few weeks now, and a breakout still seems on the cusp.

Ramon Laureano also was able to spin magic out of muggy air — he did the helmet-toss single-turned-double, reaching base three times. Matt Olson went 2-for-4, extending his hit streak to 14 games (a career-high).

And Semien continued to grind; he was a single shy of the cycle.

Chris Bassitt grinds one out

At some point during the game, Bassitt had to change his jersey. It’s common for pitchers to do this, he said.

“But I’ve never actually had to do it,” he laughed. The humidity took its toll. “There’s nothing that you touch that’s dry. Rosin can only do so much.”

Bassitt explained how the weather affected his offspeed pitches. He threw 94 pitches in five innings — his command wasn’t great — but managed to allow just two earned runs total.

Those runs came courtesy of Marwin Gonzalez, who slashed a “horrible” curveball into the right field bleachers to give the Twins a 3-2 lead (they’d scored another on a rare Matt Olson fielding error). The silver lining, despite the off-kilter performance, was that Bassitt was able to integrate his changeup readily again to generate some weak contact.

But the offspeed in this weather was off.

“We all kind of felt the hot, it was dripping wet out there to say the least,” Bassitt said. “It kind of ruins your offspeed, not so much changeups, but just depending on how you grip your slider and curveball especially ruined it because you don’t have any grip of your ball.”

The silver lining, despite the off-kilter performance, was that Bassitt was able to integrate his changeup readily again to generate weak contact.